Olive oil may hinder cancer process

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NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People who use plenty of olive oil in

their diets may be helping to prevent damage to body cells that can

eventually lead to cancer, new research suggests.

In a study of 182 European men, researchers found evidence that olive

oil can reduce oxidative damage to cells' genetic material, a process

that can initiate cancer development.

They say the findings may help explain why rates of several cancers

are higher in Northern Europe than in Southern Europe, where olive oil

is a dietary staple.

They also support advice to replace saturated fats from foods like

meat and butter with vegetable fats, particularly olive oil, said

study co-author Dr. Henrik E. Poulsen, of Copenhagen University

Hospital in Denmark.

He and his colleagues report the findings in The FASEB Journal, a

publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental

Biology.

The study included healthy men between the ages of 20 and 60 from five

European countries. For two weeks, the men consumed a quarter cup of

olive oil throughout each day. At the end of the study, they showed an

average 13 percent reduction in a substance called 8oxodG, which is a

marker of oxidative damage to cells' DNA.

Such damage occurs when byproducts of metabolism called reactive

oxygen species overwhelm the body's antioxidant defenses. Olive oil

contains a number of compounds, called phenols, believed to act as

powerful antioxidants.

However, those compounds didn't seem to account for the drop in DNA

oxidative damage, according to Poulsen's team. The men in the study

used three different olive oils with varying levels of antioxidant

phenols, and oxidative damage declined regardless of the phenol content.

Instead, the researchers suspect that the monounsaturated fats in

olive oil are behind the effect.

The findings, they say, suggest that olive oil may be part of the

reason that certain cancers, including breast, colon, ovarian and

prostate cancers, are less common in Mediterranean countries than in

Northern Europe.

At the beginning of the study, men from Northern Europe had higher

levels of 8oxodG than those from Southern Europe. This is consistent,

according to Poulsen's team, with the expected effects of the

olive-oil-rich " Mediterranean diet. "

However, Poulsen told Reuters Health, the diet is more than just olive

oil. Ideally, it's also rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains and fish.

Moreover, regardless of its benefits, he added, olive oil is no

substitute for calorie control and regular exercise.

SOURCE: The FASEB Journal, January 2007.